La Plata, MD – Tuesday, Dec. 6, Charles County Circuit Court visiting Judge Steven I. Platt admonished the sitting jury on the first-degree murder trial of Caroline Marie Conway, 53, of Waldorf for possibly using the Internet search engine ‘Google’ to glean information about the case.
“There is some suggestion from more than one source that there is some ‘googling’ going on,” Platt told the jury following a brief break in the trial. “I told you at the beginning of this trial and I am telling you again, this case has to be decided on the evidence presented in the courtroom and nothing else.”
“It has to be that way in order for the state and the defense to get a fair trial,” he stated.
“Please do not put me in a position where I have to do something about it beyond just telling you,” he warned.
The jury, composed of 13 women and three men, are expected to decide the fate of Conway in the fatal shooting of Robert Michael Mange, 25 of Smithfield, VA, and the critical wounding of his pregnant wife in the parking lot of Rock ‘N’ Roll McDonalds in Waldorf on May 20, 2015.
Platt told the jury that by engaging in such activity, they run the risk of having an extended stay at the courthouse.
“If you do that, it will prolong the trial, which will keep you here longer,” the judge said.
The trial is already expected to last eight days, but some have suggested it could very well extend as long as two weeks.
“If you have a question, send me a note,” he stressed. “The state and defense counsel have a right to ask questions based on your questions. If you have questions about the law, I will advise you. Once again, you have to decide the case based on the evidence, not by anything online.”
“You don’t do your own research. You don’t go to the McDonald’s and you don’t go online,” he explained.
This was the only hiccup so far in a trial that has otherwise gone fairly smoothly.
Tuesday’s testimony focused on bystanders who not only witnessed the shooting but also were impacted by it in negative ways.
Michael Henche and Joseph Rice, both of Waldorf, contacted police following the shooting after discovering bullet holes in their vehicles.
Henche said he was pulling into the McDonald’s to get something to drink when he heard “about a half-dozen” gunshots.
He told prosecutors he immediately ducked down. When asked by Charles County States Attorney Tony Covington what he did next, Henche said, “I got my vehicle out of there.”
When he got home, Henche discovered a frayed place on the tailgate of his truck and discovered it had been struck by a bullet. He contacted the Charles County Sheriff’s Office and Officer David Syvestre corroborated his testimony with confirming photographs of the damaged vehicle.
The more troubling story came from Rice, who had his two small grandchildren in his KIA Sonata sitting in the drive-through when he heard something.
“I heard shots, a noise,” he testified. “I heard something hit the car and saw people pulling out of line. I pushed my grandchildren down and that was a job because they wanted to see. I was familiar with a gunshot,” Rice, a Vietnam veteran, explained. “When I got out and looked, I saw there was a bullet hole in the back of my car.
“I didn’t see what was going on,” he admitted. “I was more concerned about those kids. They could have been killed. I was concerned about that.”
He didn’t realize how close that dire prediction came to being true until his granddaughter showed him the bullet on the floorboard in the back seat passenger side.
“I told her, ‘Don’t touch it,’ and I picked it up and later gave it to the officer,” Rice said.
The errant bullet just barely missed the small 4 and 6-year-olds sitting on either side of the projectile’s path, it was later determined.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com